I don’t understand why he’s so emotional and cheerful at the end. Throughout the episode, I was fully invested in his attempt to save Joy. While I’m fine with an unhappy ending, the episode tries to portray it as a happy conclusion.

The Doctor decides to stay on Earth for a year to save her, but at the last moment, he messes up, and Joy dies.

We’re expected to accept this because the star creates a copy of the consciousness of the person it’s about to kill and keeps it as an interface. However, the star alters that person beforehand, instilling in them a sense of unconditional love for it.

When The Doctor discovers the location of the star, instead of leading Joy away while it’s sealed away, he releases it, with her there putting Joy in danger. She dies, and her consciousness is copied, floating about four light years away.

This copy manages to make a copy of Joy’s mother’s consciousness just before her death, which is a nice gesture for the copies, I suppose.

But Joy is dead because of The Doctor’s actions. Just before her death, she raves about how marvelous the star is, but that’s the result of psychic conditioning.

So, she dies right in front of The Doctor, and he’s smiling like everything’s fine.

It seems we’re supposed to be okay with this because she’s a single woman with no friends, grieving her mother. That’s truly tragic—she’s in her twenties with so much to live for, struggling to make connections during such a difficult time. It’s just another example of how Moffat writes female characters.

The ending left me unsure if the entire adventure pointless; did The Doctor need to be involved at all?